Tucked away in a corner of an out-of-the-way bathroom on the vast grounds of Indianapolis’ new airport, back where the cab drivers play gin rummy while they wait for fares, is evidence of the city’s growing diversity.

It’s a trough, about 2 feet by 6 feet, marked off by a cement wall about six inches high. Two faucets empty into the trough.

It’s a foot bath, and it’s not for travelers. Rather, it’s for the Muslims cabbies who observe the purification ritual of “wudu.”

“It’s very nice, much better than the old airport,” said Farh Nasir, a Muslim from Somalia who washes his feet in the bath several times a day.

There was no foot bath at the old airport.

Nasir used to sit down outdoors and pour water over his feet from a bottle. Others used bathroom sinks.

The custom in Islam is to pray five times a day. Cleanliness is a prerequisite to prayer.

As the number of Muslim cab drivers in the U.S. has grown, other airports, such as those in Phoenix and Kansas City, have accommodated them with foot baths.

There have been mild protests. Last year, when the foot baths were in the planning stages here, members of an Indianapolis Baptist church staged a rally to oppose the baths as a dangerous caving-in to Islam.

Today there are two foot baths, one in the cabbies’ men’s room, the other in the women’s. The women’s doesn’t get used, cabbies say, because there are no female Muslim cab drivers.

Read it all via a dhimmi reporter who even went out of his way to include a Christian who found a use for the Islamic footbath – IndyStar.com

15 Responses

Salam Alaykum (may peace be upon you),
The foot bath, as you’d like to call it, is a convenient way to wash the feet, hands, face, and head (performing wudu) before prayer. Oh, and i’m very happy that a Christian has found a good use for it, for washing his hands, as it’s very convenient.

Assume for a single moment that washing yourself and being very clean before prayer was part of your religion. Wouldn’t you prefer to have a spesific washing station, rather than to wash your feet where people usually wash their hands?

You don’t see this because you are blinded by your own beliefs.. In this country we don’t believe anyone has a duty to pay for your convenience.. especially if that convenience is a religious belief.. that comes from a religion that NEVER tolerates other beliefs.. Now connect the dots.. take your head out of your ass.. and try to be honest with yourself.. instead of blinding yourself..

Not many Muslims would…but be assured Christians/Jews get no such accommodations in Muslim lands – in fact, the Koran states the Muslims are not to take Christians and Jews as friends at least that’s what the Muslim Student Association says the Koran says 005.051

“Wouldn’t you prefer to have a spesific washing station, rather than to wash your feet where people usually wash their hands?”

I would prefer that the Muslim community pay for the construction of these washrooms since they are part and parcel of their religious practices. It is not the role of a secular government to provide something that is specific to a single religion. Public restrooms are not the place to preform “wudu”

“Assume for a single moment that washing yourself and being very clean before prayer was part of your religion.”

My ‘assumption’ would be that those facilities would be found in your religious house, where EVERYONE else has to place religious ‘facilities’ except Muslims….. then again… I realize that expecting Muslims to integrated into their choosen country is too much of an ‘accomodation’ for you also…..

Towelettes and/or hand sanitizer should suffice, not additional plumbing and infrastructure at public expense. What’s next, baskets of stones to wipe their asses? Oh, if only it could be like 700 AD again.

The surprising thing is that these washing stations for Muslims to use before prayer are not readily supplied in public areas in MUSLIM COUNTRIES. So we are being hoodwinked because we are so ignorant of their customs. If they told us we had to bow or salute every time we saw one of their women in public, would we believe it? Some of us definitely would.

I forgot where I read that note about washing stations in Muslim countries but it caught my attention. It was from a commenter who had traveled in several ME countries. Possibly someone who commented on this site?

[…] 6. The more traditions one can break with, the better…well, unless they are traditions the Islamic Hadith tells us must be practiced, in which case we must accommodate them at taxpayer expense. See also here. […]